Letter-clip.



L. MYERS. LETTER CLIP. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 1913.

1,122,628. Patented Dec.29,1914.

vf lerf 11% 1 ATTORNEY HE NORRIS PETERS CD..FHOTO-LITHI1 WASHINGTON. D.r"

LEOPOLID MYERS, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

LETTER-CLIP.

Application filed March 14, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LnoPoLD MYERS, a subjectof the King of England, residing at the city of Birmingham, England,have invented new and useful Improvements in Letter- Clips, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has reference to spring jawed letter clips of the wellknown bull dog type and to some other kinds of spring jawed letter clipsin which the two lever like jaws are closed together by the action of aspring.

hflly invention comprises a catch combined with the arms of the clip andso constructed and arranged that the catch can at will be caused toeither retain the grlpplng aws of the clip in their open position, or toallow the said jaws to close under the action of the spring of the clipin the ordinary way. The said catch is by preference, although notnecessarily, controlled by a releasing spring adapted to normally holdthe catch out of action so that the ordinary working of the clip is notinterfered with and the catch is so positioned on the clip arms as to beoperable by the thumb without closing the arms and opening the jawsagainst the pressure of the C shaped or other spring; and also the partsare, or may be, so arranged that whenthe catch is in action it can beautomatically released by merely pressing the arms together to open thejaws a little farther apart.

The application of my invention to various kinds of the said letterclips is illustrated by the accompanying drawings of which- Figure 1 isa longitudinal sectional elevation of a bull dog letter clip with myinven- 'tion applied thereto, the jaws being shown in their closedposition. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectionalelevation of the same clip showing the catch in action retaining thejaws open. Fig. 4 is also a sectional elevation of the same clip butshowing the catch moved out of action ready for the jaws to close. Fig.5 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale of portions of the sameclip with the jaws closed as in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a front elevation ofthe part shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is aplan of the small spring whichserves to turn the catch out of action. Fig. 8 is a plan of the sheetmetal blank for forming the catch shown in the preceding figures.

It is to be understood that apart from the means which I employ forholding the clips Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1914.

Serial No. 754,270.

open, all the clips shown on my drawings are of the well known kinds. Inthe bull dog clip shown in Fig. 1, 1 is the well known (3 spring whichis combined with and closes together the two lever like jaws 2, 3 whichare respectively formed in a piece with their arms 4, 5 and which passthrough slots 6, 7 in the 0 spring, the sides of these slots 6, 7forming the fulcra on which these arms 4, 5 turn. In applying myinvention to this bull dog clip the catch 8 is arranged about on thecenter line of one arm 5 and some where about mid-way of the length ofthat arm and at its lower end is loosely connected as at 9 to said arm 5so as to be readily moved into the locking position shown in Fig. 3 bythe operators thumb at the same time that the arms are being squeezedtogether to open the jaws of the clip. The joint connection 9' of thecatch 8 to the arm 5 allows of the catch 8 being turned slightly on thejoint and moved nearer to or farther from the C spring 1. At a certaindistance from the pivoted end 9 the catch is made with a lipped orhooked part 10 and the end part 11 of the catch beyond this lipped partprojects through a slot 12 in the arm 4 and is rounded and widened so asto be operated by the thumb. This lipped part 10 is adapted to engagewith a bridge or cross bar 13 formed on the arm 4 between the slot 12and another smaller slot 14, but it will be seen that the catch will notengage with this bridge part 13 until the arms 4, 5 have been squeezedtogether for a sufficient distance to properly open the jaws as in Fig.3. \Vhen the arms 4, 5 are pressed together the catch 8 can by theoperators thumb be pressed forward toward the jaws 2, 3 so that thehooked end 10 will, as in Fig. 3, then engage over the bridge part 13 ofthe arm 4 and thus retain the arms in this position with the jaws 2, 3open, but said jaws can immediately be closed by merely pressing thearms 4, 5 together slightly sufiiciently to release the catch 8 andenable it to be moved back so that its hooked part 10 will then passthrough the slot 12 in the arm 4 as the jaws are closed together by theaction of the spring.

In order to effect an automatic release of the catch 8 from itsoperative position shown in Fig. 3, by slightly pressing the arms 4, 5together as aforesaid, a suitable spring is or may be used and combinedwith the catch 8 and adapted to act upon the same and such a manner thatit canbe rocked to opertend to force the catch into its normal positionshown in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5 clear of the bridge piece 13 with which itengages. This spring can conveniently be formed of a sheetsteel blankand shaped as shown more clearly by Fig. 7 so as to form a base part 15to bear upon the inner surface of the arm 5 to which the catch 8 isjointed, this base part being made with a longitudinal slot 16 where thecatch 8 is situated, this spring also having a central spring tongue 17which acts upon and under and tends to lift the heel 18 formed on thelower part of the catch 8 so as to turn the catch backwardly away fromthe clip jaws 2, 3, this spring like base 15 being kept in position byits fore part turned up at each side 23 to bear against the back of theC spring 1 and by the front of the tongue part 17 being against theunderside of the heel 18 of the catch and by the spring extending as itdoes on both sides of the catch 8. Moreoverthe front portion 19 of thespring base 15 is made so as to enter the slot 7 in the C-spring 1 andthus by this means the spring base 15 is maintained in its properposition as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 1, 5, 6 and 7. As the catch 8 isnormally retained turned back as in Fig. 4: toward the outer ends of thearms 4:, 5, the latter can be squeezed together or released to open. andclose the jaws in the usual way,

and unlessthe catch 8 is pressed forward as by the operators thumb, saidcatch will be inoperative. When however, the said catch 8 is thuspressed forward toward the C spring 1 as aforesaid the hooked catch part16 of the catch will engage with the bridge part 13 of the arm as shownin Fig. 3 and thus retain the jaws 1, 5 open. When it is desired toclose the jaws, the spring catch 8 is readily released by merelypressing the arms 1, 5 together slightly as in Fig. 4-, far enough toallow of the spring catch 8 being turned by its spring 15 to its normalposition shown in Fig. 1. The said catch 8 can conveniently be formedfrom a sheet metal blank such as shown in Fig. 8, folded upon itselfalong the longitudinal center line, and the catch will thus be'forme'dof metal of double thickness at the main part which is between the armsand passes through the slot 12. This method of constructing the catch 8is very convenient as the fixing of the catch 8 to the arm 5 isfacilitated, the said blank (Fig. 8) being shaped to form at the lowerend of the catch two tabs 20, 21

or the like which after passing through a hole 22 (see Fig. 6)in the arm5 are opened out and engage against the underside of the arm 5 and thusattach the catch 8 thereto in ate as aforesaid.

It will be evident .that if desired the spring:15 for operating thecatchmay be dispensed with, but in this case the catch 8 squeezedtogether to open'the jaws.

after looking the arms as in Fig. 3 will, to

dog type, which is described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8. Forinstance my invention can be similarly applied to all the various typesof letter clips in which the two jaws are closed by the action of a Cshaped or equivalent spring. One well known species of these C springletter clips to which my invention can be applied is known as Crockerspatent and in this the two lever arms are shaped so as to form the twojaws which are embraced by the C spring, the arms being folded so as topass between the meeting ends of the C spring and then bent andcontinued outside the same soas to embrace the C spring and standoutwardly beyond the same as in the bull dog type to form the two leverportions which are application of my invention to this particularspecies of C spring letter clips is not illustrated on my drawings as itis applied thereto in a similar manner to that described and illustratedby Figs. 1 to 8.

In another well known form of the said C spring clips to which myinvention can be applied in a similar manner to that above describedwith reference to Figs. 1 to 8, the

two arms or plates of the clips are arranged outside the C spring so asto embrace the same with the wide ends and the arms or plates turned inand embracing the ends of the C spring.

The accompanying drawings illustrate what I consider to be the best waysof carrying myinvention into practice, but it is to be understood thatmy invention is not limited to the precise details shown, as it will beevident that the catch for maintaining the jaws open against thepressure of the spring can be arranged in many other ways than thoseabove described, as for instance the catch may if desired be made withahead at its upper end which projects through a key hole like slot in onearm and has a shank loosely attached to the other arm of the clip insuch a way that the head of the catch will pass through the key holeslot in the arm when the arms are being closed together and can whendesired be pressed toward the spring or fulcrum so that the shank of thehead will enter the small part of the slot and the jaws will bemaintained open by the head of the catch engaging the surrounding partof the arm and thus retaining the clip open. If desired a depression maybe formed around the narrow part of the key hole slot so as to. engagein the underside of. the; head of; thecatch and thus more se- The ourelyretain the catch in its locked position. Or instead of the catch beingarranged on the center line of the arm to be brought into operation bymoving toward the spring or fulcrum and to be moved out of operation bymoving in the opposite direction, the catch can be otherwise arranged asfor instance to act on one side of the arm by be ing jointed to one sideof one arm to act against the other side of the other arm to hold thearms open and to release them when desired to close the jaws.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1. The combination with a spring jaw letter clip of acatch pivoted to one jaw member and projecting through a slot in theother member, the said catch being maintained in its inoperative ornon-engaging position by a spring and manually forced into its operativeor engaging position with the clip members against the pressure of saidspring. Y

2. A letter clip having two jaw members controlled by a spring normallyadapted to hold the jaws together, in combination, a lipped catchpivoted at one end to one of said members and having its lipped end located within a slot in the other member, said catch normally remainingin a non-engaging. position and being caused to retain the jaw membersin their open position by pressing the lipped end of the catch over themember in which it is located, said catch being automatically releasedfrom said member upon further extending the aws.

3. The combination with a letter clip having two jaw members of a lippedcatch pivoted to one member and having its lipped end located in a slotin the other member, said catch having a heel part, a spring fixed toone of said members engaging with the heel part of the catch to maintainthe catch from locking engagement with the member in which it islocated.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEOPQLD MYERS. W'itnesses W. P. JONES, JOHN C. SANDERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

